Haiti-Traveling Day and Entry

This is some snip-its from my journal, may you feel blessed over the next few days, and may you grasp your own calling to Haiti as I now have:

April 1, 2011

We left FCWC at 1:30 am, mom and dad prayed one last time before we left the house. I am excited, but just a bit anxious. I have four flights today, the first being from Cincinnati to Dallas, Dallas to Miami, then Miami to Port au Prince. Starting in Cincinnati we waited to get checked in, amazingly the American Airlines people were running late, so there was one lady running the show~ which resulted in some of our bags being mistagged, and Jen B's suitcase not getting to Haiti at all. Once we got to Haiti, we walked through the terminal and were greeted by a Reggie band. We boarded a bus and went to the customs and baggage area. It was very chaotic but we made it through okay, thankfully we had used bright colored tape to identify our bags. Once we had our bags, 23 out of 24, we walked outside to find Nadar. Of course there were about 50 porters trying to help us so we would pay them. We had to hurry to get to our connecting flight.

In Haiti there are no traffic rules except honk the horn and then do whatever you want. There also aren't any right/left side of the road, it is a free for all! If you hit someone or something just keep driving. I guess last week the previous team's truck hit a biker and it kept going. It was a great adventure, one that I prayed through a lot. If you see the video you can hear me praying...haha~

We then got on a prop plane and flew to Jeremie. It is amazing looking from the plane. I can't explain the beauty of Haiti, yet such devastation sill remaining from the earthquake. As we were landing in Jeremie, I thought it was funny as the pilot began to honk the horn. Who knew airplanes had horns? He honked it so the cows, roosters, and children would move off the runway. In Jeremie, we met up with the team serving in Haiti the previous week. We briefly heard some of their stories and said our goodbyes. This is where we met Yvrose for the first time. Yvrose is a precious woman, she runs the orphanage with her husband Adrien.

We made it to the lodge where we are staying, went to our rooms and got ready for dinner. We had dinner on an open veranda, it has a small kitchen and a lounge area that we will gather and do our devotions. It was delicious! Amazing eating outside with all the sounds and beauty surrounding us. Gene gave us devotions and had us make fishing hooks into bracelets to remind us that we are "fishers of men". Thankful for what HE is going to do this week, may I be open to all He is going to teach me and all the moments He provides to minister. God is SO good!

I also thought as I was going through pictures that I couldn't forget to share with you, we had many new critters that we experienced, but this one topped the list for the first day!!! I went down to my room to get ready for bed, and I saw something on the wall....yes it was a Wolf Spider....I HATE spiders....anyway I went to get someone to kill it, after I took a picture, and when we got back couldn't find it. I was reluctant to go to bed, yet knew I needed sleep, we prayed and I was singing and my flashlight grazed over something on the wall....help couldn't come fast enough! The spider is now DEAD, but it was a story to remember forever! :)